A Farmer’s Struggle Against ‘Forever’ Chemicals Gives Others a Day in Court
A Maine dairy farmer whose livelihood was destroyed by "forever chemicals" has inspired a new law that allows legal cases alleging damage or injury to be filed up to six years after harm is discovered.
Landwebs
Fred Stone, a Maine farmer who saw his livelihood destroyed and became crippled by debt due to the discovery of so-called forever chemicals on his dairy farm five years ago, helped inspire a law, signed last month by Gov. Janet T. Mills (D), clarifying that legal cases alleging damage or injury from PFAS can be filed up to six years after the harm was or could reasonably have been discovered, reports Bloomberg News. During Stone’s struggles, an ambiguity in Maine law prevented Stone from suing over the sludge containing the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, that was spread on his land as fertilizer and contaminated his cows’ milk to the point he couldn’t sell it.
But now the new law, in combination with a second new Maine statute requiring land and groundwater tests where sludge has been spread, may have ramifications outside the state. Other states, including Michigan and New Hampshire, are considering PFAS-specific policies for damage claims, and more may follow. More broadly, the laws have opened the door for lawsuits targeting paper mills, which are among the industries that historically generated sludge spread on agricultural lands. PFAS, a group of thousands of compounds, got their “forever chemicals” moniker because it takes extraordinary means to break some of them down once they’re released into the environment. The PFAS of concern move from the air, water and land into crops, livestock and people. Some also are associated with health problems, including increased cholesterol, weakened vaccine responsiveness and increased risk of some cancers.
